Musical acts interested in being considered for a showcase slot at the 14th annual MidPoint Music Festival (scheduled for Sept. 24-26 in various venues around Downtown and Over-the-Rhine) can begin submitting today.

The festival — owned and operated by CityBeat — has announced a new partner for facilitating submissions, switching from Sonicbids to the locally-based CloudPressKit. The move will save artists some money — the submission fee for MPMF 2015 is $15 (through Sonicbids, it was $25, plus a Sonicbids membership) — and CloudPressKit is described as more “artist friendly.”

You know you are not in Kansas anymore when you hear a voice on the load speaker of the cruise ship that says, “This is Fred MotherF*ucking Durst, your captain speaking.” Fred claimed to be driving the boat and getting a blow job at the same time. And so it began, the vacation of a lifetime, ShipRocked 2015. It became very obvious that sleep was not going to happen for the next five days.

When you step on the deck of the ShipRocked boat you realize immediately that this is a special place where artists and their biggest fans can rock the nights away with show after show for five days on the high seas aboard the Norwegian Pearl. In the festival at sea’s sixth year, ShipRocked offered a lineup headlined by Limp Bizkit, Buckcherry, Black Label Society and Sevendust. The lineup was rounded out by Metal Allegiance, P.O.D., Tremonti, Andrew WK, Living Colour, Filter, Lacuna Coil, Nonpoint, Otherwise, Zach Myers, Crobot, Icon for Hire, Thousand Foot Crutch, Wilson, Gemini Syndrome and many more.

ShipRocked 2015 kicked off with a mega Super Bowl pre-party on Sunday where fans could sport their favorite jerseys and watch the game on big screens all over the ship. Zakk Wylde started off the cruise with a full Metal version of the star spangled banner and then Chevelle hit the deck stage performing hits like “Hats Off to the Bull” as the sun set over the port of Miami.

The ship pulled back into Miami on Monday to pick up more passengers and head out to the Bahamas for the ultimate Rock & Roll experience at sea. Limp Bizkit took the stage for the official sail-away party on Monday evening and blew away any skeptics as Fred and Co. got the party started dancing in the crowd on deck and closing out their set with “Break Stuff.” Fred seemed genuinely excited to be on his first cruise, saying how much he loved a “good buffet.” Wes Borland, who never disappoints, was ready to rock the cruise with full clown makeup, cowboy boots, and no pants, as he shredded on his bikini girl guitars. That’s right, ladies — no pants.

VIP guests were treated to rum runners and a private acoustic show on Monday with Nonpoint, Zach Myers and Lukas Rossi from The Halo Method. Zach Myers’ band previewed some new acoustic music off their upcoming album that showed off Myer’s vocals and guitar skills with fellow members JR Moore and Zack Mack.

One band that really stole the ShipRocked show this year was Sevendust. The Sevendust crew has been on every ShipRocked cruise and their shows onboard always bring a packed house. This year fans were treated to three Sevendust performances. For the first time the band played their entire first album live on stage, which was a special treat for the ShipRocked family. They also did an electric set on deck and a more intimate acoustic set in the Stardust Theater that featured guest appearances by frontmen Elias Soriano of Nonpoint and Aaron Nordstrom of Gemini Syndrome, who took the stage to help LJ sing “Angel’s Son.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday the boat was docked at Grand Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas and a beach stage was erected to host performances in the perfect weather while passengers disembarked for some beach relaxation while listening to their favorite bands. Over the course of the two days, Letters From the Fire, Thousand Foot Crutch, P.O.D. and Nonpoint took over the beach stage to perform.

Buckcherry played two sets onboard and have never sounded better. They played classic songs like “Crazy Bitch” that every fan can sing along to and highlighted songs off their new EP, Fuck.

One of the coolest things to see on the boat is how all of the band members are true Rock music fans. They all attend each other’s performances while onboard. Every night you could find Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna rocking out in the crowd, singing every word to his favorite songs. Almost every band on the ship turned out for the performance of Rock legends Living Colour with special guests like Anthrax’s Scott Ian and LJ from Sevendust performing on stage with the band during their set.

ShipRocked is all about the fans and the fan experience. Every single band member was out of their room enjoying the ship, meeting fans, taking pictures and signing autographs every day. I saw fans wait patiently to speak to their favorite band members and they were all very respectful of the artists throughout the cruise. This is not my first music cruise but this is the first one where every band on board did a formal meet and greet so that their fans could have a photo with all band members either onboard the ship or on the island. The most dedicated fans waited in line for several hours on Thursday to get photos with all of the headlining bands.

Many of Thursday’s "day at sea" fan festivities were canceled on deck because of inclement weather but the shows were all moved inside and the schedule was re-arranged to accommodate all the performances that were planned. Black Label Society, Tremonti, Crobot and others rocked the boat throughout the day and Limp Bizkit closed out the 2015 ShipRocked cruise with a performance that laid to rest any doubts that the band is back in peak condition. Fred said over and over how much he loved his experience onboard and now he “finally gets it,” referring to why people go out into the middle of nowhere in the ocean to vacation and listen to Rock music.

For many Cincinnati natives, seeing Jess Lamb perform her audition in Kansas City for the American Idol judges was the first time they had ever heard her powerful and emotive voice or seen her honest, determined spirit. But for anyone who has their ears to the ground in Cincinnati’s local music scene (or has drunkenly wandered into Japps on a Tuesday night) knew that Lamb was more than ready for the limelight. Lamb has been performing all across town for years and has consistently turned heads with her stable of classics and originals, paired with her pronounced and technical work on the keys. (In 2013, Lamb was nominated for an R&B/Funk/Soul Cincinnati Entertainment Award and performed at that year’s ceremony, a mini-clip of which was used in her initial biographical segment on Idol.)

But a rise in local and national exposure brings a great deal of opportunities and challenges tied together. And it is those opportunities and challenges that my series of posts following Lamb’s experience will reflect upon. Lamb is an indie artist to the core; she writes and records with many different projects beyond her solo work. She plays all around town in the hopes of steadily increasing her visibility. But how does an artist used to local coverage deal with the sudden influx in national attention? What effect will American Idol have on local attendance or the reception at her shows? Will there be any long term changes or will this ultimately be a flash-in-the-pan experience for Lamb? These are the types of questions that will be explored as the show carries on.

Of course, to answer where Lamb will be going, it helps to know how she even became a part of American Idol. It all happened by chance.

“I went to Columbus for what they call the ‘Bus Tour.’ Basically you go down there and stand in front of executive producers of the show. From there, they just call you and tell you where to go next. You’re just playing the waiting game after that,” Lamb says.

Lamb and her friend’s spontaneous trip to Columbus led to the next stage of the journey — performing for Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. (one of Lamb’s musical idols).

There was a month in between both auditions, leaving plenty of time to think and speculate. After the audition in Kansas City and the announcement of her participation on the show, Lamb has been speaking to the media while still finding time for her day job and performing at night.

With “Hollywood Week,” featuring the singers who made it past the initial auditions, approaching, Lamb’s Amercan Idol adventure is just about to truly take off. Here at home, she’s already seen a change in her local reception.

“I’ve felt a lot of support from the people that I look up to. Frankly, I’m shocked at the support. I’m shocked that a lot of people see where I’m going with this,” Lamb says.

After her audition aired, Lamb played a show in West Chester, where she was greeted by an entirely different type of crowd than the Main Street district mainstays. Instead of young people buying her shots, she was met by a group of older women who brought her flowers.

The crowds aren’t just growing at her shows either; her online presence has grown as well. American Idol fans have flocked to Lamb’s Facebook, Instagram, email box and Reverbnation page. So many, in fact, that Lamb is having a hard time keeping up with all the attention.

“There’s been so much [growth] on social media, so many great emails. I’m trying to respond to every email and I have to take hours out of every day to do it and it’s amazing, I love it,” Lamb says.

In many ways, that excitement is indicative of Lamb and her Idol journey thus far. It’s been a whirlwind of activity that is guaranteed to grow as the show progresses. But she has taken it all in stride and is taking every opportunity the show has provided her. We’ll just have to tune in to see what other opportunities arise in the coming weeks.

The Hollywood Week episodes of American Idol air locally this Wednesday and Thursday on Fox 19.

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Umphrey’s McGee is one of the most popular bands in America on the Jam Band scene. Its sound can attract an eclectic audience with hints of Rock, Jazz and R&B and the well-rounded, phenomenal musicians in the lineup. The band has been touring nationally for over 15 years and is a staple on the summer festival scene. Umphrey’s have produced eight studio records; its most recent offering, Similar Skin, was released in the middle of last year.

CityBeat caught up with keyboard player Joel Cummins and discussed the changes over the years on the road and the fun and challenge of making every show a unique experience for the audience. The band plays the big room at the Taft Theater tonight at 8 p.m.; TAUK opens.

CityBeat: Your band is so famous for having ever-changing set lists. How do you determine what you are going to play each night?

Joel Cummins: We use a lot of different ways to figure out what to play. One of the main ones we use now is a website called allthings.umphreys.com, developed by a friend that has a complete tour history and everything we have played. It is a really interesting and interactive site that the fans can use to see what they haven’t seen us play before. We use it to look back and see what we have played in certain markets or make sure we do something different and don’t repeat the same thing. It is a really useful tool.

As far as making the set list, I will compile a history of whatever it is that we have played and whoever is feeling it that day will pick songs and make a set list for that night. It’s interesting — one of the things that makes it fun for the fans is that any combination of the six of us can write a set list, we try to mix it up throughout the tour so it is staying fresh for us and the fans every day. And now that we have about 180 original tunes, we have quite a few to choose from every day. So it is nice to be able to play for five or six days in a row and not have to repeat a song.

CB: I am just amazed that you can remember that many songs over that period. It is very impressive.

JC: You get to a point where you learn a song and as you are thinking about it and connecting the thoughts to the hands … after a while it becomes muscle memory. I think the only reason we are able to do this is because we made sure we play all these songs at a minimum once every couple months so you still remember it and we know how to play them. When we do different covers, one or two every show, we may only play those once or twice a year so that is something where we will run those entire songs the day of the shows and pick what we want to do to get it back. Thank God for muscle memory or we’d be in big trouble otherwise.

CB: You guys have been together for almost 20 years now. Have you experienced multi-generational fans yet?

JC: We have. It is a pretty cool thing. There are a lot of things I never expected to hear when we were talking to fans. Certainly one of those things is finding parents and their kids who are both fans, finding all these people that have said they make great friends at the shows and (travel) around the country to see each other, maybe somebody met their husband or their wife at a show. Those personal connections and stories that have happened with the band because of our music I think are one of the main things that keep me looking forward to the shows because I know that there are a lot of people out there that this means a lot to. It’s an engaging thing musically, but it has become a really cool social event bringing people together. Our fans, more than most bands, like to have a good time but they are there for the music. You go to our shows, you are going to meet some friendly, hopefully intelligent people. Our fans aren’t starting fights or getting crazy. It is cool to see the community develop as it has. It is something I never imagined that would happen.

CB: I (photograph) a lot of different genres of music and talk to a lot of different people. The Jam Band music scene seems to be a little more collaborative and supportive group with each other. You have collaborated with a ton of artists over the years. Do you have any favorite collaborations you have done? How do you go about choosing who you are going to work with next?

JC: I think some of that sense of community emanated from the festival scene. It is interesting because it is a shared thing with the bands as well as the fans. One of the things I do is Jam Cruise; I have done 11 of the 12 of them. I know all the artists like family. It’s cool to have these bonds develop and I think because of the style of music we play, because it is more collaborative and there are a lot of good musicians on the scene, it encourages the idea of collaboration.

If I had to name one as my favorite, we actually just got to play three concerts in New York with Joshua Redman, who is this really talented, really adventurous sax player. He has won Grammys and played with the best of the best, and the fact that he still wants to come back and play with us every once in a while is a really great challenge for us and really engaging to do. I think we have one of the most extreme varieties of styles in our music. As a result, we either play with people like Josh, who are in the Jazz scene, or someone like Mavis Staples, who is obviously a legendary R&B singer. We are friends with Huey Lewis, who is one of the most amazing guys out there in the music business, (and we’ve played more) current things like something Electronic with STS9 or something acoustic with Yonder Mountain String Band. I think we are lucky that we are in the time we are because bands used to be more closed off and competitive with other acts out there. It is a lot more fun when you can be friends with people and make music together.

CB: You lost your original drummer, Mike Mirro, last year.

JC: Yeah, inevitably things come up (about him) all the time. Most of the time it’s funny things that he said or jokes that have carried on. Most recently, we did a holiday show with some members of the band in Chicago. He actually has a charity now in his name, the Michael A. Mirro fund for Neuroscience Studies. We were able to give a pretty sizable chunk of money to that. It is good to have his presence pop up in daily conversations, but even more than that, the charitable aspect of trying to contribute to studies that help people who have the challenges like Mike had. We miss him dearly and he was a close personal friend, so even though he wasn’t with us in the band anymore (when he passed away), we had collaborated a bunch of times since he left the band. It was a really horrible, tragic loss.

CB: The festival lineups are being announced really early this year. Can you tell me what you look most forward to with the festival performances? What do you think is one of your greatest festival moments?

JC: I think the artist camaraderie is a really exciting thing with festivals. We have been lucky to play so many great festivals. One of our favorite annual ones we always do is Summer Camp in Illinois and that is something we co-headline with moe. and they always have other great headlining artists. Steve Miller Band is going to play this year. Widespread Panic is going to come back. There are a lot of great artist always at that one.

As far as career defining festivals for us, I’d have to go with Bonnaroo. We played the first one. Up to that point we had been playing at clubs in Cincinnati like Ripley’s, and maybe the Southgate House. We got asked to be a part of that first Bonnaroo. We were nervous because we got like a 5 p.m. Friday slot. We were wondering if anyone was even going to be there yet. We ended up playing in front of 10,000 people that day, a completely jam-packed tent. It was in 2002, and that was our first moment where maybe people knew who we were on a national scene. That is something I will always remember.

CB: You mentioned some bars you played in Cincinnati over the years. Do you have any favorite Cincinnati moments or memories?

JC: There are lots, to be honest. One of the early ones I’ll never forget. We played the last night at Ripley’s before it closed with our buddies Ray’s Music Exchange, a great Cincinnati band. That was kind of an emotional and cool night. That was the first night of us going out on a tour on the East Coast and Ray’s was headed out to the West Coast. I also remember probably just three or four years ago, one of my favorite things we did (was when) we played at Moonlite Gardens and Mad Dog, who is Ray’s former trumpet player, put together a horn section for us. We did a little back and forth competition, playing songs back and forth, and we had the horns up in the balcony and we were on stage and it was just one of those cool unique moments that hasn’t happened before. People are always trying to come up with fun things like that to do. You never know with Cincinnati because there are guys looking to get some kicks out once in a while and do something interesting and out of the box.

The Taft is one of our favorite rooms to play. I think we have only played there twice before. It is exciting to come into one of your favorite rooms and play for a sold-out crowd.

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There are a couple of things that have been on my mind of late, and this always seems like a decent forum to vent my musings, particularly since I'm not in therapy. First of all, what exactly constitutes medical attention for an erection lasting more than four hours? Does a stereotypically sexy nurse, um, give you a hand? Or does a mummified doctor from the bygone era of bone saws that could drop an oak tree and hand-cranked skull drills apply leeches to the affected area and then show you pictures of Yogi Berra and golf videos to bring down the swelling, so to speak?

While we wait for an answer to arrive, let's move on to the other, perhaps more salient issue that I've been pondering. As everyone knows, the end of the year brings the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards nominations, which then inspires a good deal of grumbling speculation about who has gotten nominated and, more importantly, who has not.

Look, no one understands better than I the elation that accompanies being recognized for your work. Six years ago I nabbed second place in the Non-Daily Newspapers Feature Personality Profile category of the Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards. I know, right? At the same time, I can count on fingers and toes the number of letters I've received over the years about things I've written, and many of those have been from the subjects I've written about just to say thanks.

My prized correspondence was from now-deceased Rolling Stone/Billboard editor Timothy White for getting the title of his Beach Boys biography wrong in a piece I wrote about Dick Dale. I had cited White's book as The Nearest Faraway Beach, largely due to my love of the Brian Eno song, "On Some Faraway Beach," and partially because I jotted down my notes in Joseph-Beth Booksellers when I was in the throes of a flu that would have eaten a vaccine for an appetizer. White's book was, in fact, The Nearest Faraway Place, and in it, he mentioned that Dale had been born in Beirut, Lebanon, among other interesting tidbits about the legendary guitarist. When I asked Dale about some of the entries in White's book, he countered with, "Does it say Dick Dale was born in Lebanon?" (he referred to himself in the third person, a lot). I said that it did, and he responded, "Then throw that book in the garbage."

It was a great quote so I used it in the story, which prompted White's letter, where he first corrected my idiot error and then clarified that he had interviewed Dale personally at a time when White speculated that Dale thought being born in Lebanon would make him seem more exotic (he was of Lebanese extraction), but when Beirut became synonymous with terrorism, he claimed Boston as his birthplace. All in all, though, he was very complimentary about the article.

As usual, I digress. As much as people love being hailed for their accomplishments, they are stung when they feel they've been passed over, for whatever reason, and that's completely understandable. It becomes slightly problematic when people demonize the process in an effort to explain their absence from the end result.

Here's the thing; those of us who comprise the nominating committee try not to take ourselves too seriously, but we are very serious about the task of establishing these nominations on an annual basis, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, we love music and we respect the people who make it. We also feel it is extremely important to recognize great work and to share that recognition with the entire music community.

And that's pretty much it. We don't have an agenda to push. We don't nominate our friends (although our friends sometimes get nominated). Speaking for myself, I really try to set personal feelings aside when the time comes to look at the past year and determine who has done work worthy of CEA recognition.

Of course, that determination is open to a certain amount of subjectivity. We are human beings, after all. That's why we cast our nets as far as we can, to make sure the nominating process is as fair as humanly possible. Is it a perfect system? Not hardly. But I think we've gotten it pretty close to right. This year we involved the public in the process and that helped widen the focus even further, but there still seems to be a certain amount of dissatisfaction about the nominees and conjecture about how they got there. In the final analysis, it boils down to a few simple facts. If you're nominated, congratulations; you've distinguished yourself in a music community that I honestly feel is one of the best in the entire country. If you win, huzzah and holy shit, you've further distinguished yourself within a formidable slate of your musical peers.

And if you're just a spectator, keep working. Keep doing what you do. The accolades are nice, but put things in perspective; at the end of the day, the CEAs are a party with door prizes. Prestigious door prizes, but door prizes nonetheless. And whether you're a winner, a nominee or neither of the above, don't allow your recognition or lack thereof to overinflate or devalue your sense of what you do. What matters is the work. Your work. Whether it garners you a nomination or not.

It's the same in any field of endeavor. How many painters wind up in museums in their lifetimes? How many athletes give their lives over to the sports they love for an almost microscopic chance to get a plaque in their respective halls of fame? Celebrity, wealth and notoriety are all fairly illusory. What matters is the work.

The immortal and forever great Frank Zappa may have put it best: "Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best."

And there it is, in it's simplest and most potent form. If you are out there, turning words and melodies in your head into real music with your hands, heart and soul, you are contributing to one of the best things in life. Awards are the icing on a cake that doesn't necessarily need to be iced. When you make great music, we are the winners. And we'd like to thank you. And God and our families and friends and our eighth grade English teacher who said we'd never amount to anything, because he was sort of right. Thank you.

You can find out who scores the New Artist of the Year trophy (and who wins in all of the other categories) on Sunday, Jan. 25 at the 18th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony/party, which takes place at Covington’s Madison Theater (Blues nominees The Whiskey Shambles were recently added to the lineup of performers, joining The Cliftones, Mad Anthony, Injecting Strangers, Young Heirlooms and Buggs tha Rocka). Tickets are available in advance through cincyticket.com. Showtime is 7 p.m. and we give you full permission to call in sick to work Jan. 26.

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The nominations for the 2015 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, honoring Greater Cincinnati’s fantastic music scene, were announced Wednesday and now it’s your turn to weigh in.

The 18th annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards ceremony/party, where the winners for each category will be announced and several acts will perform, returns to Covington’s Madison Theater on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015. So far, Young Heirlooms, Injecting Strangers, Mad Anthony, The Cliftones and Buggs tha Rocka are confirmed to play the CEAs this year. Stay tuned for further info; tickets are available here.

An educated voter is the best kind of voter, so why not actually check out some or all of the artists for whom you are voting? Below you will find links to the artists’ pages on the excellent local music site cincymusic.com (thanks, CIncyMusic!) featuring links, music, bios and more. (The final three “Critical Achievement” categories are not voted on by the public but rather the CEA nominating committee, but you should still totally check all of those acts out, too.)

The annual MusicNOW festival, founded by Cincinnati native and guitarist for Indie Rock superstars The National, returns to various venues in Over-the-Rhine this March for a celebration of the festival’s 10 successful years. The event will utilize Music Hall and Memorial Hall (past MusicNOW venues), as well as the new Woodward Theater (the Contemporary Arts Center will also host a related music/art installation March 11-20). Heavy on collaborations again this year, the shows will run March 11-15.

Highlights from MusicNOW 2015 include a collaborative performance featuring The National and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The CSO will also perform “Songs from the Planetarium” with MusicNOW vets Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly and Dessner.

Here is the full lineup announced this morning:

Wednesday, March 11th

Woodward Theater - 1404 Main St, Cincinnati, OH

Will Butler

Thursday, March 12th

Woodward Theater - 1404 Main St, Cincinnati, OH

concert:nova with Jeffrey Zeigler

Friday, March 13th

Cincinnati Music Hall - 1241 Elm St, Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, The National with the CSO and new commission by Caroline Shaw

"Many of my most significant memories as a musician have taken place in Cincinnati during the MusicNOW Festival over the last 10 years," founder Bryce Dessner says in the press release. "When we started, we were driven to create an intimate music festival that was as much a creative refuge for the artists as it is for the audience to partake in intimate and rare performances. We have celebrated works in progress and new commissions, new collaborations, and detailed music of all kinds regardless of genre or popularity."

One of Cincinnati finest Hip Hop artists, Buggs Tha Rocka, is making his new album, Scattered Thoughts of an American Poet, available for free starting today on various outlets across the internet (it’s already generated fairly widespread buzz, including write-ups from the U.K. and France).

Buggs recently spoke with CityBeat’s Brian Baker (who called the new LP a “masterpiece”) about the new release (which features guest spots from Donte from MOOD, Moxy Monster, Tanya Morgan, Aida Chakra and Cool Kids’ Chuck Inglish among others) and his progress in the Hip Hop world.

“The type of Hip Hop I do has always focused on technicality and emotion,” Buggs said. “I take pride in being a wordsmith. That’s where the ‘American poet’ came from. And ‘scattered thoughts’ is really what it is. It’s everything I’ve been through, things I’m seeing in the news, a little bit of everything. My ups, my downs, my life in one CD. Instead of putting on a facade and an image, it’s really organic and natural.”

Buggs is hosting an intimate release party/performance this Friday at Over-the-Rhine club Maudie’s. Showtime is 9 p.m., admission is $7 ($5 in advance here) and Buggs will be joined by MOOD’s Donte (and probably other guests?) at the show.

Buggs has unveiled several videos (made in conjunction with Alvin Jordan and others) for various tracks from the album leading up to the release. Here’s a clip for “Angel of Death” featuring Piakhan:

Yelawolf began making waves in 2005 after self-releasing his debut album, Creek Water. The gifted MC landed a major-label deal with Columbia within two years, but the deal fizzled out and Yelawolf returned to working the underground. By the start of this decade, Yelawolf’s signed with Eminem’s Shady Records.

His debut for the label, 2011’s Radioactive, featured guests like Killer Mike, Lil Jon and Kid Rock and was a chart and critical success. More track releases, mixtapes and collaborations kept fans occupied after the 2012 announcement of his second Shady Records album, Love Story, which will materialize next year. Yelawolf has been selling out shows all over the country, so you might want to call ahead or show up early.

Vibe recently posted an interview with the MC about his latest goings-on. Check it out here.

The Lone Bellow broke through with last year’s self-titled debut album and the trio’s forthcoming LP, Then Came the Morning — due January 27 and produced by Cincinnati native/The National guitarist Aaron Dessner — is drawing a lot of buzz already thanks to the release of a pair of singles. Here’s the video for the most recent one, “Fake Roses”:

Read Brian Baker’s full preview of tonight’s show from the most recent CityBeathere.

The Pass’ show tonight is the start of a tour in support of the band’s new EP release, High Road, which follows the release of four 7-inch singles at the start of 2014 and comes out this Tuesday. “Take You Out,” a track from the new release, was debuted on the website We All Want Someone to Shout For yesterday. The site says the track "deliver(s) a world of glossy synths, love-sick vocals, and a feel-good atmosphere that you can’t shake anywhere else but the dance floor. With so many electronic groups relying heavily on computers and other effects these days, it’s great to see The Pass deliver such groovy tunes as a full live band. It truly separates them from the rest of the pack."

Check it:

• Nashville-based Americana artist Nora Jane Struthers and her band The Party Line play Newport’s Southgate House Revival tonight. Mike Oberst of local Folk faves The Tillers opens the show at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Struthers was born in Virginia and raised in New Jersey, getting her first taste of the musician’s life as a tween fiddler and traveling to festivals and conventions with her father (a banjoist). Struthers decided to pursue a career in teaching, but after a few years she switched her focus back to music, inspired by watching Tim O’Brien perform at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Her 2010 debut solo album showcased her stellar lyrical abilities and mastery of traditional Americana and Bluegrass sounds. She hit her stride with last year’s Carnival, bolstered by her full-time band, The Party Line.

Struthers is gearing up for the release of her new album with The Party Line, Wake, which is due in February of next year. The album is said to be more eclectic and nods in a more Rock direction, inspired by her love of recent albums by Hayes Carll and Jason Isbell.

NPR’s Ann Powers recently interviewed Struthers about the new album (read it here) and unveiled the new album track, “The Same Road.”

• According to B-105 FM’s website, tonight’s Toys for Tots benefit show at Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar and Grill is sold out (the bar’s website says there may be “limited tickets” available at the door tonight). The 8 p.m. concert features headliner Easton Corbin, plus up-and-comers Maddie & Tae and RaeLynn.

Veteran metallers Every Time I Die play Bogart's in Corryville tonight. The Ghost Inside, Hundredth, Architects and Backtrack are also on the bill. Doors open at 6 p.m. and tickets are $26.27.

ETID's creative approach has earned them fans outside of just the Metal world (though they don't seem to have suffered the wrath of purists like Deafheaven or other act that dare to stray from the imaginary blueprint). Here's what Brian Baker had to say about the band's most recent album in his preview for this week's CityBeat.

Every Time I Die's latest album, From Parts Unknown, is the band's third album for Epitaph and seventh overall, and stands as a stylistic scrapbook of their best qualities — full bore Metalcore anthemics, songs both howled and sung, scathingly focused lyrics and guest appearances from Coalesce's Sean Ingram and the Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon. From Parts Unknown may also be the most lavishly praised album in Every Time I Die’s estimable catalog. The title of a song from the new album may provide the best description of the Every Time I Die live experience: “If there is room to move, things move.”

• Another monster of the Metal world, pioneering Bay Area Thrash crew Exodus, is also in the area tonight. The band plays Covington's Madison Theater at 6:10 p.m. Tickets are $25 and the show is open to all ages.

Emerging from the same scene that produced Thrash kings like Testament and Metallica (Kirk Hammett was an original member of Exodus), the band has been tearing shit up for the past 34 years (with a break-up, reunion and then full-time reformation sandwiched in the middle). This past October, Exodus released its 10th album (and first in four years), Blood In, Blood Out.

• If brutal Metal is not your thing, Newport's Southgate House Revival has Texas-born/Georgia-raised/Nashville-based singer/songwriter Lera Lynn tonight in the Revival Room. Locals Wilder open the show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 at the door.

Lynn is usually found in the Folk/Americana section of record stores, but she also sprinkles her endearing sound with a variety of other influences (Jazz, Rock, Pop, Country and beyond). Here's Lynn's soulful, rootsy take on TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me," for example:

Long before you figure out exactly what lyrics Lera Lynn is singing, you'll feel the melancholy and mystery in her music. Wistful melodies and the cry of a steel guitar are set to gentle, meditative rhythms. Even the song's sonic spaces suggest loneliness. With the music alone, Lynn creates a tone poem of romantic uncertainty.

After self-releasing their debut album in 2012, The Stray Birds scored wide-spread acclaim (NPR put it in its Top 10 of Folk/Americana albums released that year) and began to build a following on the road. The hard work (and engaging music) paid off in the form of contract with the esteemed Yep Roc label (home to artists from Nick Lowe, Robyn Hitchcock and Paul Weller to Fountains of Wayne, The Rev. Horton Heat and The Apples in Stereo), which released the band’s Best Medicine album in October.

Masterful Cincinnati Funk musician Freekbass and his band The Bump Assembly debuted their new music video for the track “Never Enough” this past weekend during a show at Newport’s Southgate House Revival (which also featured a reunion of Freekbass’ old crew, SHAG). This morning, the clip made its public debut.

The groovy video is the third one released from the most recent Freekbass album, Everybody’s Feelin’ Real (which you can stream/purchase here). The video was directed by Gary Templeton and features a cameo from Jennifer Hartswick, the singer/trumpeter for the Trey Anastasio Band, who provided vocals on “Never Enough.”

The hard-touring Freekbass and The Bump Assembly (who play Brooklyn tomorrow night and a special unplugged session for Relix Magazine in New York City tomorrow afternoon) don’t currently have any local shows scheduled (though they will be in Louisville and Lexington right after Christmas), but keep an eye here for the latest show announcements.

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Veteran Cincinnati band Wussy saw a huge boost of its national profile (and sales) over the weekend when the band was featured on CBS This Morning on Nov. 29. The band’s network TV debut included an entertaining and funny interview segment, spliced with live footage (including shots filmed at this year’s MidPoint Music Festival, where the band opened for The Afghan Whigs in Washington Park). The featurette also showed band members Chuck Cleaver, Mark Messerly and Lisa Walker at their day jobs in Cincinnati and Shake It Records (the Northside record shop whose label branch releases Wussy’s albums) also makes an appearance.

The band’s appearance also included a performance of “Teenage Wasteland” from Wussy’s latest album, Attica! A bonus performance of another song from the album, “Beautiful,” was also filmed. Watch everything below.

The appearance had an immediate impact on Wussy’s sales. CBS’s Anthony Mason (who conducted the interview) tweeted that Attica! entered the iTunes album chart at No. 89 after the airing. Amazon sold out of its stock of Attica! CDs.

For the 2015 edition of CityBeat's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (to be held in late January), the public now has a chance to be involved in the process of choosing the nominations from Greater Cincinnati’s amazing music scene. Previously, nominations came directly from the nominating committee, which consists of a variety of local music aficionados (writers, bloggers, club owners, etc.). The nominating committee members still have final say in who gets nominated, but for the first time ever they will be presented with your feedback before making their final decisions.

The ballot will close on Dec. 5. Here are some basic guidelines from the nominations ballot:

For the first time ever, fans will have input into the nomination process for the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. For each genre category, please enter the name of the performer you feel is deserved of a CEA for their work in 2014. Recordings released publicly between November 2013 and November 2014 are eligible for Album of the Year nominations. The New Artist of the Year category is for artists who have emerged in that same time span (they don’t have to have formed in that date range, just broken through for the first time).

Nominations are reserved for artists from Greater Cincinnati making original music. Please, no straight-up cover bands. You may only fill out one ballot per email address; additional ballots will be discarded.

A list of the top vote getters in each category will be presented to the nominating committee members. The members will not be restricted to voting only for artists nominated by the public, because some deserved acts may not actively campaign for nominations and the CEAs honor output and accomplishments and not just who has the biggest Facebook friends list or the most followers on Twitter. But the “long list” compiled from public votes will get more artists’ names in front of the nominating committee and help their chances for making the final “short list” of nominees.

Once the nominations are compiled, the final ballot will be placed online for public voting.

Be fair. Be nice. And happy voting!

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Cincinnati is host to a great
number of music festivals and it feels like every season adds another one.
Midpoint is becoming nationally recognized for its ability to draw in heavy
hitters, Bunbury has exploded in popularity in just a few years and Buckle Up
had a great inaugural year this past summer, just to name a few obvious
examples. It’s a great time to be a music lover and music journalist in this
city.

But for this music
journalist, there’s only one festival that gets my money, year in and year out:
Ironfest.

Whereas most of Cincinnati’s
festivals focus on the city’s vast assortment of Folk and Pop influenced
artists, Ironfest is awash in the loud, angry and just plain aggressive side of
local music. John “Black Arm” Gerhardt, the organizer of Ironfest, puts in a massive
amount of time and effort to assemble a legion of acts that are all a little
left of center, but still eclectic enough to bring in all types of fans.
There’s only one place in town that you can see the darkened Electronic soundscapes
of Black Signal alongside 500 Miles to Memphis’ Country Punk and Moonbow’s
raucous brand of Heavy Metal, all under one roof, and that’s at Ironfest.

Nov. 14 and 15 marked
Ironfest’s fifth year. It was founded as a celebration of the life of “Iron”
Mike Davidson, a mainstay in Cincinnati’s music scene before his untimely
passing. While this is still the case, Ironfest has grown beyond a simple
memorial. In fact, many of the attendees nowadays didn’t even know “Iron” Mike —
myself included. But if Davidson had so many talented friends in so many
awesome bands, I’m sad that I didn’t.

Gerhardt has a knack for
getting a great mix of bands together to take over Southgate House Revival’s
three stages and this year’s iteration was no different. At any time, you could
check out the bands listed above, along with the likes of Valley of the Sun,
Smoke Signals, Martin Luther and the Kings, The Dopamines, Honeyspiders or
out-of-towners like OC45 and Punching Moses (featuring ex-Banderas guitarist
Jesse Ramsey), among many more.

While each year’s lineup is
undeniably star-studded, Gerhardt also always seems to have one band on the
bill that stands out above the rest and this year’s edition was no different.
Closing out Saturday night was the reunion of Oxboard Drain, Iron Mike’s old
band, with Valley of the Sun’s Ryan Ferrier filling in for the late bassist. I
had never heard Oxboard Drain before that night but I got the distinct feeling
that I missed something special. When a band still draws fans out that sing
along to every word years after their dissolution, you know they made an impact
during their tenure. Seeing Ferrier, Gerhardt and the rest of the band honor
their friend by ripping through a powerhouse set was something to behold.

While the music at Ironfest
is amazing and honoring Iron Mike’s memory is important, neither is the real
reason I have attended the past three years. I go for the community that
Ironfest celebrates and all of the people it brings together. My roommate
attended this year’s festival for the first time this year; at the end of the show
he commented that I seemed to know half of the attendees that night. While
estimate may have been a bit of an exaggeration, the point is valid. For fans
of the scene such as myself, Ironfest is almost like a high school reunion that
you’d actually want to attend. New bands mingle with established acts, old
bandmates and friends reconnect with each other, and the past and present of
Cincinnati’s alternative music scene is celebrated over a weekend.

That’s what makes Ironfest so
special. All of the other festivals that Cincinnati hosts every year celebrate
the music and musicians contained within them. Ironfest celebrates the
community itself that spawns around the music and musicians. It’s a two-day
period where we can fondly recall the good memories of days gone by while still
creating new memories for the next time we all converge at that old church.

It’s only been just over a
week since Ironfest V wrapped up and I already feel like I’m in withdrawal.
That much music, that many friends, that much fun in the photo booth (and, yes,
that much booze) all adds up to a weekend that’s talked about until the next
one rolls around. For many, “Iron” Mike’s passing was a horrible loss but his
passing spawned an event that has kept people coming back for five years
straight. And for that, I have to say, “Thanks ‘Iron’ Mike, and I’ll see you
all next year.”

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Besides sporting one of the best band names in recent memory, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. also makes wildly endearing, monstrously melodic Indie/Electro Pop. Detroit’s Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein started the project in 2009 as a home-recording venture, but a pair of EP releases the following year drew widespread attention, leading to a deal with Warner Bros. Records. The band released its debut full-length, It’s a Corporate World, in 2011 and followed it up last year with the acclaimed The Speed of Things. Paste named that album’s single, “Run,” one of the best songs of 2013 and also called them one of the Top 25 live acts around.

At the start of fall, the band released a new single, “James Dean,” a great slice of chilled-out, slow-jam Pop.

Empires enters MPMF 2014 building something close to its namesake this summer. It started with strong showings at Bonnaroo and the Hangout Music Festival, continued with a June appearance on a little program called the Late Show With David Letterman, followed by a well-received four-song EP – all building toward the band’s major-label debut, Orphan, released this week on Chop Shop/Island Records. The album was produced by John Congleton, who has worked with St. Vincent, The Black Angels and Explosions In The Sky, among others.

You’ll Dig It If You Dig: A more up-tempo The National; an artsier The Killers; a less dramatic The Horrors.

Here is the video for “How Does It Feel” from Empires’ most recent release, Orphan.

The Grownup Noise debuted in 2007 with its inaugural release, a widely acclaimed self-titled full-length. The band recently returned with its three-years-in-the-making third LP, The Problem with Living in the Moment, which came out late last month.

Calling the Grownup Noise’s new work — “The Problem With Living in the Moment” — “an album” seems like a slight. Declaring the folk/rock blend a symphony is overkill, but the 11 tracks have such a orchestral sweep — swelling strings, rippling piano lines, a harmony of percussion arranged with meticulous detail. Let’s call it a suite. That seems to fit.

The band’s bio describes its sound as “music that re-imagines timeless classic rock of the ‘70s and ‘80s – think the Eagles and the smart, whiskey-voiced lyrics of Tom Petty and Bob Seger.” Along with critical acclaim from outlets like Rolling Stone and The New York Times, the band has found success on the road and satellite radio. and has even scored buzz via attention from the CMT television network. The duo is gearing up for the Dec. 2 release of its latest album, Salvation City.

Here’s Sundy Best’s video for “Lotta Love,” a track from the album Bring Up the Sun.

Modern Blues/Rock guitar hero Joe Bonamassa might not be a household name, but he has a gigantic fan base. Tonight, many of those fans will fill Music Hall to watch the six-string superstar do his thang. I just drove by Music Hall and he has multiple trucks and busses parked around back, one adorned with the motto, “Always on the Road,” a reference to how he has built such a big following.

Bonamassa does make records, though. His most recent is Different Shades of Blues. Here’s what CityBeat’s Brian Baker had to say about the LP in his preview of the show (click here for the full preview):

Bonamassa’s latest album, Different Shades of Blue, is a full-tilt electric experience, kicking off with a brief taste of Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)” — Bonamassa was peeling off Hendrix licks when he was 7 — and roaring into incendiary originals like the scalding “Oh Beautiful,” the funky “Love Ain’t a Love Song,” the relentless “Never Give All Your Heart” and the sinewy title track.

• Danish Dance Pop trio New Politics headlines a triple bill of up-and-coming bands playing Bogart’s tonight. The group joins fellow on-the-verge acts Bad Suns and SomeKindaWonderful for the show.

New Politics were in town this past summer to play the Bunbury Music Festival, alongside tourmates Paramore and Fall Out Boy. This fall the group teased new material with the release of the single “Everywhere I Go (Kings and Queens).” The group’s next album, Vikings, is slated for release next year.

• Reggae crossover star Shaggy plays the Thompson House in Newport tonight. Local band Elementree Livity Project and veteran Columbus, Ohio, squad The Ark Band open the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $17.

Shaggy became a superstar in the ’90s/early ’00s with hits like “Boombastic,” “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me,” a huge smash (you can still hear it on Pop radio to this day) from his six-times Platinum album, Hot Shot, from 2000. Shaggy has continued to release music and tour the world. Last year, Shaggy released Out of Many, One Music, an all-Reggae album that was produced by the legendary duo Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

The German-born composer is touring behind his most recent album, 2013’s Spaces, which was compiled from footage from various performances over the previous two years. His live presentation is something to behold, as Jason Gargano writes in his CityBeat preview of the show:

Nils Frahm’s live performances are kind of hard to believe. He sits alone on stage, surrounded by multiple pianos and a few other gadgets. He moves back and forth between instruments, slowly building and altering the music as it unfolds, all of which is done without the use of loops or playbacks. It’s an impressive achievement, as Frahm’s sonic output is a whirl of intricately layered yet never fussy arrangements that bring to mind a meld of Steve Reich and Keith Jarrett.

Opening the show is Brooklyn’s Dawn of Midi, an Avant Garde trio that combines elements of Jazz, Krautrock, Electronica and experimental Rock music and has also been drawing fawning critical raves. Radiolab host Jad Abumrad said of them, “I've seriously never seen anything like these guys.”